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Parties urged to hand back donations banned by ‘ghost law’

Westminster has received donations from tax exiles in MonacoRex Features

The Conservative and Labour Parties have accepted more than £1.5 million in donations from non-residents and non-domiciles since they passed a “ghost law” to curb the practice.

Most of the donations would have been disallowed if the Bill, designed to stop tax exiles from bankrolling political parties, had been enforced when it received Royal Assent more than three years ago, in July 2009.

Yesterday, a member of the Treasury Select Committee called for the parties to return this money — which totals £1.3 million — and follow through with plans to clear up the law surrounding party political funding.

As The Times revealed that Westminster had received donations from Britons based in the tax haven of Monaco, John Mann, Labour MP for Bassetlaw, said: “If…